The draft electoral roll for Uttar Pradesh was published after a special intensive revision exercise, with 12.55 crore voters retained out of 15.44 crore listed earlier. Around 2.89 crore voters were excluded due to deaths, migration, or multiple registrations.
The national capital was in the grip of a cold wave, with the sun largely obscured by clouds and pollutants lingering in the atmosphere, leading to reduced visibility. At least 129 flights were cancelled at the Delhi airport on Saturday due to dense fog, according to an official.
A pregnant woman was allegedly beaten to death by her husband and in-laws in Mainpuri, Uttar Pradesh, over dowry demands. Police have registered a case and are searching for the accused.
The BJP, which won the Samajwadi Party strongholds of Rampur and Azamgarh in 2022 bypolls, hopes to wrest Mainpuri too.
For 62-year-old Raj Vir, who was exonerated on Thursday in a case registered under the Gangsters Act, justice did not come swiftly.
Youths claiming to be from the Samajwadi Party assaulted Maulana Sajid Rashidi after a news debate in Noida for allegedly making a derogatory comment against party MP Dimple Yadav. The incident sparked controversy, with a purported video posted on social media by one of the accused.
The motive behind the murder is yet to be revealed, even though the accused said he killed the woman because she caused a rift in the household.
Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav on Monday alleged that the police and administration are preventing people from casting votes in Mainpuri parliamentary and Rampur Assembly constituency in the bypolls in Uttar Pradesh.
There was no immediate reaction from the PSPL on the inclusion of Shivpal Singh Yadav's name in the SP's list of campaigners.
SP chief Akhilesh Yadav and MP Ramgopal Yadav accompanied 44-year-old Dimple during the filing of nomination papers at the District Magistrate's office in Mainpuri.
Shivpal Yadav is campaigning for Akhilesh Yadav's wife Dimple Yadav in Mainpuri seat, which fell vacant due to the death of Mulayam Singh Yadav.
Uttar Pradesh Women Welfare Minister Baby Rani Maurya has proposed renaming the Mughal-era Shahjahan Garden in Agra after the Malwa Kingdom queen Ahilyabai Holkar, citing her contributions to women's empowerment. The proposal has sparked debate, with opposition parties criticizing it as a tactic to divert attention from pressing issues. The UP government has already renamed Allahabad as Prayagraj and Faizabad as Ayodhya.
The counting began at 8 am to decide the fate of the candidates contesting the polls, among whom all eyes will be on Dimple Yadav, Mulayam Singh Yadav's elder daughter-in-law and the wife of Akhilesh Yadav, who is contesting from the Mainpuri Lok Sabha seat, necessitated by the demise of Samajwadi Party veteran Mulayam Singh Yadav in October.
Shivpal Yadav on Wednesday held a meeting with party workers and exhorted them to ensure the victory of the SP candidate in the bypoll.
A woman and her lover have been arrested in Uttar Pradesh's Mainpuri for allegedly killing her husband. Police believe the motive behind the murder was the husband's reluctance to pursue a case of the woman's alleged gang rape and the couple's affair. The woman allegedly drugged her husband before the lover struck him with an iron wrench and set the body on fire to destroy evidence.
Standing near the noose, he recited a couplet in which he said he wished nothing but to sacrifice his life for the motherland. Utkarsh Mishra remembers Ram Prasad Bismil on the revolutionary leader's 128th birth anniversary.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) held the core group meeting of five states on Saturday at the party headquarters in New Delhi.
A 23-year-old Dalit woman was found dead in Mainpuri, Uttar Pradesh, with her family alleging she was killed for refusing to vote for the Samajwadi Party in the Karhal assembly bypoll. Two individuals have been arrested in connection with the woman's death. The incident has escalated into a political controversy, with the BJP accusing the SP of creating an atmosphere of terror and the SP alleging that the Election Commission is turning a blind eye to the BJP's alleged misuse of government machinery. The bypoll in Karhal is being contested by the SP's Tej Pratap Singh and his 'fufa' Anujesh Pratap Singh, with the BSP also fielding a candidate.
Parties like the Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party, Mahaan Dal, and Janvadi Party-Socialist had distanced themselves from the SP after its defeat in the 2022 state assembly elections.
A win for SP could provide some consolation for Akhilesh Yadav after the defeat in the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections early this year and the loss of Azamgarh and Rampur Lok Sabha seats to the BJP in June bypolls.
The move drew criticism from the Akhil Bharatiya Akhara Parishad. Its president Mahant Ravindra Puri said that Mulayam Singh Yadav had always been "anti-Hindu and anti-Sanatan".
The ruling BJP in UP, however, lost Khatauli to Samajwadi Party ally Rashtriya Lok Dal.
Police in Budaun, Uttar Pradesh, have filed a case against Public Works Department (PWD) officials and Google Maps in connection with the deaths of three men whose car fell into a river from a partially constructed bridge while following directions on the navigation app. The car was led by Google Maps onto an unsafe route, according to police. An FIR was filed against four PWD engineers, and the regional officer of Google Maps is also being investigated.
On Friday, April 19, 2024, Aditi Yadav, Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav and Dimple Yadav's elder daughter, campaigned for her mother, the party's candidate from Mainpuri, Uttar Pradesh.
The party has left Mainpuri, described as its "safest" seat, for Mulayam Yadav, who is the MP from Azamgarh right now.
Akhilesh said the alliance's decision was not informed by any seat-sharing math but its pursuit of victory.
The Rampur assembly seat in Uttar Pradesh which fell vacant following the disqualification of SP leader Mohammad Azam Khan is one of the five seats going for the bypolls.
Despite this setback, Pandey emphasised that discussions regarding ticket distribution are ongoing and solutions will be found through timely communication.
Scenes from the election campaign in New Delhi, Mainpuri, Bardhaman, Srinagar, Etah, Mumbai and Puri.
Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav will contest the Lok Sabha elections from Kannauj, the party announced on Wednesday, two days after it had declared another candidate for the Uttar Pradesh seat.
The police entered the ashram premises of religious preacher Jagat Guru Saakar Vishwahari Bhole Baba in Mainpuri, UP, and later said he was not present there. A police official said they had gone there to check security arrangements.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday met ministers from the state at his residence in Lucknow to discuss the upcoming assembly bypolls in 10 constituencies.
The bus, carrying 60-70 people, was coming from Jaipur in Rajasthan and heading towards Farrukhabad.
The Uttar Pradesh police on Thursday said they have arrested six sevadars (volunteers), including two women, of the organising committee in connection with the Hathras stampede that killed 121 people.
The third phase of polling will take place on May 7, 2024.
This has invited sharp reaction from the Opposition, with the Samajwadi Party saying that the BJP was afraid of its defeat in Milkipur due to which it moved the court for "stalling" polls on the assembly seat.
Bypolls to 10 assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh will be a litmus test for the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA)'s unity after the group's success in the recent Lok Sabha polls when they won more than 40 seats, significantly contributing to the Bharatiya Janata Party's failure to win a simple majority in parliament.
The judicial commission set up by the Uttar Pradesh government will speak to anyone required for its inquiry into the July 2 Hathras stampede, a probe panel member said on Sunday when asked if self-styled godman Bhole Baba will also be questioned.
A voter turnout of 60.19 per cent was recorded till 5 pm in the third phase of Lok Sabha elections in 93 constituencies spread over 11 states and Union Territories on Tuesday with sporadic incidents of violence in West Bengal.
In a video message, Madhukar's lawyer AP Singh claimed that his client had surrendered in Delhi, where he was undergoing treatment.